All posts by Mike Anderson

Mike was that kid who walked into the high school stage crew booth, saw the lighting board, and went ooooooooooooh. Now that he’s (mostly) all grown up, Mike keeps his foot in the door as a community-theatre producer, stage manager and administrator. In the audience, he’s a tremendous sucker for satire and parody, for improvisational and sketch-driven comedy, for farce and pantomime, and for cabaret of all types. His happiest Toronto theatrical memory is (re) Birth: E. E. Cummings in Song.

Fringe for Free! Toronto Fringe ticket giveaways for shows playing on Thursday, July 10th

What’s that, Toronto? You’re worried about the Toronto Fringe Festival selling out? Yeah, I liked Fringe better when they were in their bluegrass phase, before they went all top-4o cock-rock. That big record deal really ruin–

Oh.

You meant the other kind of selling out. Well, I’ve got good news! Through the co-operation of literally dozens of participating companies, Mooney on Theatre invites you to Fringe for Free: two guaranteed tickets, five shows to choose from, and all you’ve got to do is send us an email!

For every day of the festival, we’ll be giving out tickets to 5 shows. Exciting, right? What’s even more exciting is how easy it is to enter – you can enter each of the five contests by sending us an email (more details below).

Remember, you need to enter each contest individually. If we pick your name, you’ve got two tickets heading your way.

Check out the list of the 5 shows playing on Thursday July 10th after the jump!

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This Aint The Yellow Brick Road (Steele Solutions) 2014 Toronto Fringe Review

This Ain’t The Yellow Brick Road is Jake Steele’s life story. It begins four years ago, with his recovery from a brain tumour which robbed him of his memory: he had to re-learn everything – from elementary self-care, to how to process emotions, to who he was. His Toronto Fringe Festival show explores how he grew and developed into a new person, how he relates to the old one, and his adventures as he comes into — or, perhaps, overcomes — himself.

At least, that’s what Jake Steele says.

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Happy Foods (Present Perfect) 2014 Toronto Fringe Review

happy foodsEli inherited his father’s grocery store, the titular Happy Foods. He’s not happy, but that isn’t the point; Eli lives a life of overlapping and interconnected obligations (to his family, to his community, to his employees…) and his father’s legacy is just one component. As the people in his orbit begin to find their own legs and pull in new directions, Eli’s way of life — and the assumptions he’s made about the way the world works — will come under threat. This Toronto Fringe Festival show explores the agony, the debris, and the aftermath of his new normal.

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The Emergency Monologues (Drinking Well) 2014 Toronto fringe Review

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In The Emergency Monologues, paramedic Morgan Jones Phillips tells stories which definitely bear no relationship whatsoever to any actual calls he may or may not have been sent to handle, so there. The fact that he knows them all off by heart is, clearly, neither here nor there. At his Toronto Fringe Festival show, you spins the wheel and you takes your chances: maybe he’ll tell you about Edna and her Poo, or the various sundry and delightful Smells he encounters in his work, or — you lucky dog, you– the Legend of Penis Guy.

And, remember, this is fiction. Definitely, 100% pure fiction. So don’t go thinking otherwise. Not even if he winks.

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Dr. Frightful Presents: Dead Air (Neverending Highway Productions) 2014 Toronto Fringe Review

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Dr. Frightful Presents: Dead Air is a tribute to old-timey radio. In this Toronto Fringe Festival show, four actors work their way through a Friday-night double feature in which the walking dead overtake America, town by town. Augmented by live sound effects and slapstick comedy, audiences will gasp, shriek and chuckle while they squirm over the evening’s key questions: will our intrepid radio heroes make it to the Safe Zone, or will the actors kill each other first?

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